There is a particular kind of sadness that arrives in late August.

It shows up quietly one morning, when the light changes slightly and the air carries the first cool whisper of fall, and you realize summer is almost over. When that morning comes and we look back on Summer of 2026, what memories have we collected?

I have been thinking about that question since March. My youngest is now eight, and my oldest is getting married this year. I know how quickly time passes and things evolve.

This is my wish for the summer of 2026: to make the most of THIS one precious summer.

That wish is where this epic blog post was born. One giant “hub” blog post that becomes the anchor for summer adventures. Part guide, part scrapbook–a place that gathers all of my best intentions for the season.

If you want to have a summer that becomes part of your family's mythology, the type of summer your children carry inside their hearts for the rest of their lives, all it takes is a little planning and a little spontaneous magic. The magic happens not because you spent a lot of money or went somewhere impressive, but because you made something awesome happen (messy and imperfect still counts as awesome).

This list has fifty summer bucket list activities–some big, some small, some brave, some silly, some delicious, some quiet. Pick the ones that resonate with your family, make an epic bucket list poster, and then start crossing them off one by one. I like to actually put the items on my family calendar and preorder supplies the week before–if you plan ahead you are way more likely to actually do the thing (and this summer we are doing all the things).

Your epic summer starts now.

Adventures at Home

Because the best adventures don't always require a destination.

1. Host a Family Olympics Night:
Pick six to eight backyard events, divide into teams, hand out medals, and crown a G.O.A.T. trophy winner at the end. Someone will take the axe throwing too seriously, and it’s going to be hilarious. Film everything and replay the highlight reel at the awards ceremony.
(Full Guide HERE)

2. Build a Backyard Water Park:
I like to start with painting my summer activity tarp (trust me, it’s so fun). Then add a Slip ‘N Slide, sprinklers, water tables, and a whole lot of chaos. You do not need a pool to have the best water day of the summer.
(Full Guide HERE)

3. Go Backyard Camping:

Set up the tent in the backyard, make s'mores, tell stories, sleep under whatever stars you can find. The magic works even if you can see your kitchen window from the sleeping bag. My favorite thing to do is set up a double portable hammock that has bug netting, listen to music on my favorite portable speaker (it’s the best), and vibe with the campfire. We also love a good campfire tale.
(Find my favorite camping resources HERE).

4. Build the Most Epic Pillow Fort Ever:
Every summer we transform the basement into a magical fort wonderland and leave it up for weeks. The kids often sleep down there in their “rooms.” Use all the blankets, every couch cushion, and lots of creativity.

5. Host a Backyard Movie Night:

Use a projector with a sheet or inflatable screen, or just your biggest TV aimed out a window. Snuggle up with popcorn in real bowls and blankets on the grass.

6. Have a Shaving Cream Fight:
Outside. Old clothes. No other instructions needed. Take lots of pictures and get the neighbors involved!

7. Epic Water Gun Battle:

My favorite finds of the summer are these automatic water guns (they are a surprise and they are magnificent). Divide into teams, strategize, and let chaos reign. I also use these for my Family Olympics Night.

8. Set Up a Snow Cone Bar:
If you know me, you know I’m obsessed with Elite Gourmet products. This snow cone machine is the best and it’s so affordable. Get lots of syrups and paper cups and set up a snow cone bar. You will LOVE this and so will your kids.

9. Go All Out on Sidewalk Chalk:

Not just hopscotch. Murals. Cities. Entire imaginary worlds. Cover every inch of driveway you have. Use the really good chalk–it’s messier, but so much more vibrant and lasts for days.

10. Build a Chalk Obby:
An obby is a Roblox obstacle course–and my eight-year-old Sophie built one in our driveway with sidewalk chalk. A hundred feet long, with levels, rules, and actual parkour required to complete it. Hand your kid the chalk, tell them to build something, and then try to make it past level three without failing. Just to reiterate–use the really good chalk that lingers for days.

11. Have a Mad Scientist Day:

Use a kit to make it easier, or grab items from your pantry. Baking soda volcanoes, color-changing milk, slime, elephant toothpaste. Find three experiments, gather the supplies, and let things get wonderfully out of control.

12. Host a Home Bazaar:

This is one of our favorite things to do. Divide the house up into zones, and have everyone make something and set up a shop. Cookies, bracelets, small paintings, slime, Play-Doh creatures–and then you set up a little market and barter and trade with what you've made. No real money. Just creativity and negotiation skills.

13. Put On a Family Show:

Spend the day coming up with your concept–are we doing a musical? Maybe a family talent show? Make this an epic event. Hang sheets for curtains, invite the grandparents for the audience, and film everything.

Adventures in Nature

Because something happens to us when we go outside and pay attention.

14. Hike to a Waterfall:
Getting to stick your feet in the water after hiking to a waterfall is the cherry on top of a hike. It’s like the lavender towel during savasana after hot yoga. Find the closest or highest one and drive to it–or do a tour of several and make a whole day of it. Some free resources to help with your hike planning can be found HERE.

15. Go on a Nature Walk and Build a Fairy Terrarium:
Nature walks are peak childhood, but they can also be used to gather items for an art project. Walk slowly and collect moss, small stones, interesting sticks, and tiny flowers. Then bring it all home and build a tiny fairy world inside a glass jar. You can also buy a kit HERE to help make the process easier.

16. Catch Fireflies:

This one has an expiration date…do it before July is over. Mason jars (make sure you poke holes in them). Quiet yards. The exact right kind of summer dark.

17. Find Your Highest Elevation:

Set a drive time limit—ninety minutes, two hours, whatever works—and find the highest point you can reach. Blue Ridge Parkway overlooks count, fire towers count, but the top of any mountain you have to climb counts most of all.

18. Learn Bird Watching and Bird Calls:

Download the Merlin Bird ID app. Go somewhere green and quiet. Try to identify everything you hear before you see it. This one will change your life in the best way–trust me.

19. Have a Dark Sky Night:

Find a dark sky zone near you or simply drive away from city lights. Bring a blanket. Learn three constellations. Track the moon cycle for the rest of the summer. One of my favorite memories is spending two nights at a dark-sky zone in Pennsylvania where we stayed at an ancient Amish farmhouse and learned how to use a telescope from a retired astronomy professor. My favorite free resource for finding dark-sky zones is HERE.

20. Find Your Closest Greenway and Walk It:

Our local Greenway, Anne Close Greenway, has become a home away from home to us. One of my favorite memories was doing watercolor paintings at the greenway at sunrise on Sophie’s birthday. It was magical. We packed breakfast, watercolor art supplies (Find my faves HERE), and had the best morning. Find the greenway closest to you and go there regularly. Get involved if possible, clean trails, hike, go to musical events. Explore every single inch the greenway has to offer.

21. Spend a Day River Tubing or Creek Wading:
Find the nearest river that has tubing and book a slot–it’s so fun, and I’ve even taken a five-year-old to do it. This is relaxing and also an adventure in the best sense of the word. You never know what you are going to find around the next bend of the water, and that’s the whole point. Float a cooler with drinks and snacks and spend the day soaking up the sun with your family. If tubing is too far away, find a creek and go wading.

Food Adventures

Because the best summer memories usually involve something delicious.

22. Host a Ninja SLUSHi Taste Test Tournament:

Can I just say how obsessed I am with my Ninja Slusi machine? Make four flavors. Give everyone a ballot. Judge with full seriousness. Crown a winner. Repeat as necessary. My favorite recipes are HERE. All my favorite slushie supplies are HERE.

23. Have a Picnic:
Make everything from scratch or order takeout. Bring a blanket, picnic basket full of goodies, a cooler of drinks, and a speaker for tunes. I also like to bring little portable bug fans and citronella candles for bug control. Find my favorite picnic supplies HERE.

24. Make Homemade Popsicles:
We make popsicles almost every day in the summer. Fruit, juice, yogurt, coconut milk–whatever sounds good. Freeze overnight. Eat them outside the next day. Find my favorite supplies HERE.

25. Host a Lemonade Stand for Charity:
Pick a cause your kids care about. Make the lemonade and let them run the whole operation. Donate everything you earn.

26. Bake Something You've Never Tried Before:
Research cooking blogs, recipes and techniques, then really go for it. Croissants, sourdough, or baklava…maybe a layered cake. Something that requires actual technique and several attempts. Failures are usually delicious and are part of the process.

27. Make Homemade Ice Cream:
This is so much fun, but remember to plan ahead the night before because most recipes need to be frozen 24 hours in advance. Use a Ninja Creami (I bought several pints to have on hand for multiple flavors) or hand-crank your own.
28. Have a Build-Your-Own Pizza Night:
We love buying the premade dough from Trader Joe’s, but you can also make your own. Lay out the dough, sauce, and every topping you can find in an assembly line. Taste test everyone’s creations. Someone's will be super weird. Eat it anyway.

29. Do a Farmer’s Market Haul:
Go early to your local farmer’s market, and let each person pick a favorite thing and something they’ve never tried before. Come home and cook everything for dinner.

30. Host a Mocktail Bar Night:
We love making mocktails! My Ninja Slushi Machine has made this so much fun (my favorite recipe is one we created–a Cherry Shirley Temple slushie). Also, lavender lemonades, sparkling cider with a splash or orange juice…whatever looks beautiful in a fancy glass. Dress up slightly. Make it an occasion.

31. Have a Watermelon Carving Contest:
Not just cutting it open. Actual carving. Faces, animals, whatever anyone can manage. The bar for winning is very flexible.

32. Cook a Recipe from Another Country:
Pick a country and research a traditional dish–make it as authentically as possible. Play popular music from the country, watch a movie filmed there, and really immerse yourself in the experience of another culture.

33. Eat Breakfast Outside (Bonus Points if a Sunrise is Involved):
Set your table the night before and have as much prepped in advance as possible. Use real dishes, make a big pot of tea in a fancy teapot, cut some flowers from your yard. You will never forget watching the sunrise and sipping tea with your kiddo–waking up early is always worth it.
34. Learn to Make One Thing Completely from Scratch:
Learn to make something that involves lots of steps and hands-on fun: bread, fresh pasta, real pie crust, your grandma’s famous Waldorf Astoria Cake. Something where you have to work through and understand each step. I was lucky enough to spend a week with Tim Ferris during his launch of “The 4-Hour Chef.” The book teaches meta learning (how to learn how to learn) as taught through learning how to cook. I’ve worked through chapters with the girls, and this is such a fun addition to your “cooking from scratch” bucket list item.

Mind and Story Adventures

Because the best summers also make you grow.

35. Start a Daily Reading Ritual:
Last summer, Sophie and I read one fairy tale, one myth, and one Bible story. I let her cross out the stories as we read each one and annotate everywhere. I wanted to expose her to classic stories in a systematic way. We talked through concepts and ideas (some of those fairy tales are wild y’all). It was such a fun part of bedtime.

36. Read One Classic Book Together:
This summer, we are doing a chapter each night before bed. “Little Women,” “The Chronicles of Narnia,” “Island of the Blue Dolphins, “The Secret Garden,” or one of your childhood favorites. Take turns reading it and don’t rush it.

37. Memorize a Poem Together:

Short ones count. Find something beautiful. Say it out loud until you don't need the page anymore. You will be surprised how long it stays. (Find my favorite poetry resources HERE)

38. Visit an Art Museum:
Find a local museum and walk the aisles slowly. Let the kids linger over paintings and sculptures. Take a sketch book and colored pencils and draw what moves you. Pick one painting that stays with you and talk about why on the drive home.

39. Learn to Play Chess:
Learn the basics, and go from there. Sophie and Mark play a game of chess every day, and it’s amazing how much she has picked up in a short amount of time.
(Find my favorite chess resources HERE)

40. Have an Epic Family Board Game Night:
Make a big poster tournament bracket-style. Make a bunch of serious snacks, and award a trophy at the end. Dramatic commentary. We are LOVING Jackbox games and play them several times a week.

Creative Adventures

Because making things with your own hands is one of the oldest forms of joy.

41. Paint Rocks with Words of Encouragement and Hide Them:
Find good rocks. Paint them with words or images that might make a stranger's day. Leave them on nature trails, park benches, sidewalks. Wonder about the person who finds them. You can also get a rock painting kit HERE that makes the whole process so easy. We had a ball hiding these on Neal’s angelversary.

42. Try to Paint Something You Saw at the Museum:
After your museum visit, come home and attempt your own version of the painting that stayed with you. Skill level is completely irrelevant…the attempt is the point! Find my favorite painting resources HERE.

43. Paint a Picture Tarp:
Before your outdoor waterpark day, unfurl your turquoise tarp (seriously, don’t be boring with this), get all of your acrylic paints and brushes, and let your kids have a ball decorating it. Hand prints, waves, crazy bird squiggles–go into full “artists gone wild” chaos mode. Let dry and then seal with a spray polyurethane. You can use this as the base for SO many summer adventures.
(Find my favorite tarp HERE–for real it’s so pretty).

Giving Back

Because the summers that matter most usually include giving back.

44. Volunteer Together:
Find one place that needs help and show up. An animal shelter, a food bank, a community garden, a cleanup day. Let your kids see what it looks like when you give your time away freely.

45. Do a Random Acts of Kindness Day:

Make a list in the morning. Spend the day crossing things off. Pay for someone's coffee. Leave a note on a neighbor's door. Hold a door open and mean it.

Brave List Adventures

Because brave looks different for everyone, and all of it counts.

46. Go Rock Climbing and Learn to Rappel:

A climbing gym works perfectly. Belay certification takes just a few hours…I had so much fun learning this. Watch the look on your kid's face when they make it to the top of something that scared them. You will not forget it.

47. Do a Breathwork and Breath Hold Challenge:

Wim Hof style. Start small. Extend gradually. Learning to regulate your own nervous system is one of the most useful and brave things you can do. Also slightly terrifying. Both things are true.
(Find free Wim Hof resrouces HERE)

48. Take a Coin Toss Road Trip:

Start with one big flip–mountains or ocean, left or right, north or south. Then keep flipping at every turn. Let the road decide. Bring snacks and no agenda. This one becomes a story you tell for years.

49. Sleep Outside Under the Stars:

Backyard counts. State park counts. Anywhere with actual dark and actual quiet counts. Wake up and watch the sky.

50. Take an Epic Road Trip:
The BIG one. Not a weekend. Not a quick drive. A real one. We have driven from Charlotte to Yellowstone, to the Tetons, to Breckenridge, to Mount Rushmore. We have stood at the edge of the Grand Canyon after a drive I once would have thought was impossible. I used to be terrified to drive an hour alone with all of my kids. Then I drove them across the country by myself, and something shifted permanently. Doing brave things you think are impossible resets your what's possible button. A road trip is not just a vacation–it is proof of what you are capable of.
(Read about one of our epic road trips HERE)

The Bonus One

Because fifty was never really enough.

Do One Thing That Genuinely Scares You:

You know what it is. It has probably been living in the back of your mind this whole time you've been reading this list. Write it down. Give it a date. Do it before Labor Day. The brave thing and the impossible thing are usually the same thing—and the only way to find out what you're made of is to go find out. That is what this whole list has always really been about.

Begin With the End in Mind

Because fall will come regardless.

The light will shift, the air will change, and you will have the chance to look back at this summer and reflect. Did you make this one precious summer count?

This list is not about doing everything–it’s about doing something. About choosing presence over convenience, adventure over autopilot, and yes over maybe later.

Some of these will go sideways (I guarantee it). The pillow fort will collapse. The homemade ice cream will take three times as long as expected. Someone will cry during the coin toss road trip, and at least one person will demand a rematch at the Family Olympics.

The messy moments are part of the mythology too.

Now go make some memories. When that late-August morning arrives, I hope you'll have a long list of stories to tell.

By: Amanda Fleming Taylor

Epic Summer Bucket List: 50 Adventures for an Amazing Summer